


Maybe I'm Afraid

by Young_Professer



Series: Tumblr Works (mostly unfinished) [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Anakin and Mace are a good team when they work together, Kidnapping, Rescue
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:40:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27741637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Young_Professer/pseuds/Young_Professer
Summary: Three Jedi are captured by the Seperatists, Mace Windu is tasked to find them, as two of them are his lineage. Anakin is there too, because he would never leave his padawan behind.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker & Mace Windu, Depa Billaba & Kanan Jarrus, Depa Billaba & Kanan Jarrus & Mace Windu, Kanan Jarrus & Ahsoka Tano
Series: Tumblr Works (mostly unfinished) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019905
Comments: 3
Kudos: 41





	1. Chapter 1

"Master Windu?" 

"Skywalker." Mace can't even bring himself to be surprised. "You're supposed to be two sectors away."

The boy- well, man (he's a general in his own right, Mace should at least give him that respect,) shoots him a glare. "Dooku has my Padawan. I'm here to rescue her. I didn't think the council knew."

What he means is that he didn't think the council  _ cared _ . He is wrong, but Mace knows what he's about to say will only cement the opinion in Skywalker's mind.

"Dooku has not only Padawan Tano, but Master Billaba and her Padawan as well. This was supposed to be a secret mission."

It would have been, if Skywalker had stayed where he was told. But Mace supposes that he can cut him a bit of slack, he knows the fear of having a padawan abducted, the determination (or perhaps desperation) that claws in one's chest until the child is safely back where some can see them. So he drops the subject and moves on, pulling out his comm and projecting the information he has.

"But since you are here the plan will change. I have Dooku's location. You break in and cause a distraction while I find Master Billaba and the apprentices."

Anakin frowns at the projection, formulating ideas before he fully registers Mace's words and looks up. 

"I thought this was a stealth mission?"

"It was." Mace closes the projection and pulls his hood over his head. "But doing anything quietly is not your strong suit." 

Skywalker huffs, mutters something about how "he can be sneaky when he needs to." But he doesn't object and follows Mace out of the alley.


	2. Chapter 2

He takes them to where he had parked his speeder, waits until Anakin gets his ride, and then they're off. It's about a twenty minute ride to the place where Dooku's settled for the time, and Mace spends it in silence. Skywalker doesn't speak, but his strong desire to find his Padawan combined with the sharp fear that Tano's been hurt is loud enough that Mace almost would have preferred the talking. 

Almost.

But eventually they arrive, Anakin speeding ahead to jump off of his bike and slam it to a stop. There's still a good twenty meters from their location to the wall that lines the perimeter of the Separatist base. It is located very well, Mace observes, on a relatively flat piece of land, the loose rocks of the planet's natural terrain providing a dead giveaway for any vehicle that passes close to it. He glances at his counterpart, who is squinting at the base, probably thinking the same thing because he turns to Mace and asks. 

"So, what's your plan for getting in?"

Had Mace been by himself, he would have simply hitched a ride of the next vehicle entering the base. But with this change in plan, they were going to need a better,more flashy option. He's not sure what yet, so he responds with a question of his own.

"Can you sense Padawan Tano?"

Anakin closes his eyes, his vast force presence swelling like a tide, searching. Mace reaches out a bit as well, to the small bond that he and Depa still share but he feels nothing from it, as he has every time he has tried before. Dooku had probably used force surpressents on her. He doubted that Yan would them on the padawans, but he didnt know Caleb well enough to be able to pick out his force signature through the haze that the force was now.

After a moment Skywalker opens his eyes. "I can, but only faintly." He says, a bit more panicky than he was before. 

"And?" Mace prompts, because there obviously more, it's written all over the man's face.

"She's in there, and she's hurting. That's all I can sense."

Well that bodes well. Mace thinks, stifles a sigh and looks back at the base. 

"Here's the plan, Skywalker. You're going to do one of those chaotic, dramatic entrances you're known for. Find Dooku and keep him distracted while I find Master Billaba and the padawans. Myself or your padawan will notify you when I find them, and you come pick them up and get them back to your ship. I'll fight my way out and join you back at my cruiser."

"Fine." Skywalker responds immediately, which is as close as a 'yes, Master' that Mace will probably get so he doesn't comment on it, they have work to do. "One question- Where is your cruiser?" 

Right, Anakin wasn't privy to this (formerly) secret mission. 

"I'll send you the coordinates." Mace does right then and there, checks to make sure Skywalker receives them, then steps around him to start the bike's engines and lets it go, sending it careening towards the base. Anakin gives him an affronted look and opens his mouth, but Mace cuts him off before he can speak. 

"I just kick-started your distraction. Take the speeder and don't get it damaged, it's our only way out."

Skywalker does a half decent job at covering his annoyance and nods. "Yes, Master Windu." 

That catches Mace by surprise, and he watches stonily as the man leaps into the speeder and races off. Then he lets out a breath, balances himself on his feet, and waits for the chance to make his move.


	3. Chapter 3

True to his nature- Skywalker's entrance is loud and flashy and the exact opposite of stealth. He guns the speeder straight after the bike until he's almost scraping the back of it. Then a touch of the force send the bike straight into the wall of the fortress and it goes up in a cloud of sparks and smoke. Mace grimaces, he had just told the boy not to damage the speeder and now it's singed on the nose. As long as its still running it's a smart move, no one will bother moving a damaged vehicle while an enemy is still on the premise, and Skywalker most certainly is making his presence known. 

Despite the slight dislike that Skywalker has for him, Mace finds him fairly easy to work with. He was trained by Kenobi after all, and he is friends with Obi-Wan and before him with his master. He knows the basic strategy of the lineage- be dramatic and then disappear, leaving their adversaries in confusion for long enough to do whatever needs to be done. 

Mace can see the flash of a blue blade even from a distance, and the first few blaster shots are faint, but gain in volume as more join in and Mace knows it's his time to go. He takes one step onto the barren plot between him and the bunker and takes half a second to observe the situation. The droid patrols are coming from both sides to where the bike made an indent in the wall, but he can't see Skywalker's lightsaber anymore so he must be leading them deeper into the base. As expected. 

He inhales, reaches into the force to add power to his muscles, and sprints.

Within seconds he's crouched by the ruined wall and can see the hole that Skywalker cut through the remaining layers to get in. It's barely wide enough for one person, and definitely not enough if someone needs to be carried out unless they're missing some limbs. So he takes the hilt of his saber and strikes three sharp blows around it. There's a tension-filled second as the fractures spread before more of the wall crumbles. The sound attacts the attention of the battle droids up top, and he crouches low under the speeder as he hears them come to the edge of the wall and look down. 

"Did you hear that?"

"Yeah, sounded like something broke more of the wall."

"Could be just aftereffects."

"Nah, let's go check it out."

Their metal steps retreat, but Mace knows that they'll be back in no time, this time on the same level as him so he gets out from under the speeder, dives through the hole and rolls up at the feet of a B-1 battle droid. It can't possibly be one of the two he just heard, but Mace doest want any evidence that he's ever been here so before the droid can even squeal or raise it's blaster Mace reaches up and rips its head off of its body, then throws it through the hole and let's it clang again the speeder and slide to the ground. 

It's an obvious enough scene, even to a basic battle droid. So he takes off again down the first hallway he sees, away from the approaching clanking of steps.

The next order of business, find the hostage Jedi.


	4. Chapter 4

Mace doesn't know the layout of this base, he has no plan, and he's fairly sure he just heard a faint explosion. So, like a good Jedi, he reaches into the force, and picks the path that has the most -potential for disaster- significance. 

He stays close to the walls as he walks down the back the way he came, hearing the droids from the wall conversing by the broken wall. 

"See? Nothing. Just the crashed speeder."

"It doesn't look too damaged, it looks operational."

"Huh, you're right. Maybe we should secure it."

"Or," Mace says, stepping up behind them and resting his hand on his saber. "Maybe you shouldn't."

_Such a waste._ He thinks as he slices the two machines in quick succession. _Using one liners on droids. Stupid droids at that._

He moves to continue stalking into the fortress until he finds Depa and the padawans, but the force is kind, a rarity in these dark times, and pulls him elsewhere. He goes back through the hole and inspects the wall for a brief second. It's some sort of fabricated stone, not completely smooth and rough enough that he just barely will be able to get a handgrip. But barely is enough, so he leaps just high enough to where he's directly under where the droid patrols walk and begins scaling the wall laterally. The texture is rough even on his calloused hands, biting into his skin but the minute pain just helps him keep alert as he moves, keeping himself open to the force as it shifts every second. Skywalker must be still wreaking havoc, he's the only person who can change outcomes so quickly. 

Surprisingly, he is being directed towards Skywalker as opposed to away. And, emphasized by the bright blaze of Anakin, Mace feels the gray-black oily presence of Yan Dooku. So this is how it's going to be. 

Mace pulls shield after shield over his mind and force presence, blurring it as much as he can because he needs to get by Dooku unnoticed. It's unfortunate and inconvenient,(although good for the Separatists,) that the same tactic doesn't work on droids. Instead Mace has to drag himself to the tip of the wall and hang there by his arms, listening to the patrol pace. There's no blind spot in their coordination: they step in unison, and if their programming is standard then their optic sensors pointing left, front, right in such a sequence that no spot save for behind and above them is ever unwatched. Hopefully they aren't the ones equipped with motion sensors, Mace had dealt with a few of those but those few were far too many. 

He waits another beat, gathering the force into his body and then catapults himself straight up as high as he can, flips, and knows without looking where he should land. He touches down on the top of a guard turret, the fabric of his cloak muffling any noises his bare hands might make against the metal. From there it's a simple matter of opening the hatch, crumpling the lone droid's head with the force and sliding inside. There he stops all movement and takes a breath. 

Skywalker and Dooku are below him, a good way to the left, force signatures flaring in what Mace suspects will turn into a duel. Just under him he can feel two other force signatures, in various levels of pain and fear. The padawans, moving in the direction of the conflict. 

Of course, Dooku's going to use them as bargaining chips. 

Mace won't let that happen. He still has no idea where Master Billaba is, but it is highly likely that Caleb or Ashoka do. He'll break them out and have them hide here while he finds Depa. 

Mace ignites his saber and flips it towards the floor, preparing to cut through. Phase 2 of this operation begins now. 


	5. Chapter 5

Four Magna Guards against one Jedi Master shouldn't be too much of a problem, Mace speculates as he parries the end of a vibrostaff into the wall for the sixth time in the last seven seconds. The difficulty comes in with the involvement of two padawans, one clearly injured and unable to put weight on her left leg, and the other barely more than a youngling struggling valiantly to get out of the clutches of the droid holding him.

They're still heading toward their destination, the two without a prisoner to hold are currently trying to stall him in the hallway. That fact in itself is annoying, and even more annoying is that they're succeeding. Mace is pushing them back, but not faster than the other guards are dragging Caleb and Ahsoka away. Mace assesses the situation, striking quickly with his blade and ducking under sparking electricity that comes millimeters away from singeing his robes. The turret is about ten meters behind him now, and of equal distance in front of him are the padawans, steadily moving away. He doesn't necessarily need to get to them right away, just needs to keep them from moving. 

Mace senses an opening and slides back, lets his two guards advance for one second before he leaps to the side, pushing his legs to rebound off of one wall to the other, throws his saber in the same motion and shouts. 

"Caleb, drop!" 

His saber spins through the air, the thrum matching the rhythm in Mace's blood as he simultaneously throws himself from the wall to slam into the closest Magna guard with both his body and the force, putting most of the pressure just above the perfect shatterpoint so it doesn't explode into fragments all over him, just cracks with a satisfying thud. Then he grabs it's body and twirls, using the momentum to heave it at the other one and send them both to the floor. He stretches out his left hand, and his saber snaps into it. He brings it up, aims, and slashes.

The two magna guards join the one that had been holding Caleb as a sparking pile of metal on the ground. Speaking of Caleb… Mace turns to see him battling the guard that still holds Padawan Tano captive by stamping on its foot.

The boy is stamping. On its foot.

Despite the skill he's showing by dodging the droid's one handed jabs with its vibrobalde, it's painfully obvious that the boy is entirely too young to be on the field. 

Pushing the thought aside, he quickly moves to decapitate the remaining magnaguard and quickly does a once over of both of the padawans. Tano is clearly the most injured of the two, her ankle looks broken and her jaw is set even as her eyes blaze with determination. Her resilience has always been impressive, and today is no exception. 

"Grandmaster Mace!" Caleb cries, and he looks like he's about to cry. The skin around his eyes is dark from exhaustion and he looks… haunted. 

"Padawans." He says steadily. "Straight down the hall behind me and above us there's a turret. Get in there and close it up after you, myself or Knight Skywalker will come get you."

"Grandmaster, Master Billaba-"

"We'll get her too. Help Ahsoka, Caleb."

He exchanges a glance with Padawan Tano, confirming that he's telling the boy that to keep him out of trouble. 

_I'll keep him with me._ Her gaze says, and he nods at her. 

"Master's hurt-" Caleb continues desperately. Mace holds up a hand to stop him, acknowledging his words and filing the information. He gestures for them to go.

"Come on, Caleb." Tano says firmly, puts her arm around his shoulders to lean on him and pulls him down the hall. 

Mace waits a beat, considers moving the remains of the droids but decides it's not worth it. He reaches into the force, feels the roiling of power where Dooku and Skywalker are and takes off at a run in their direction. 

It would be convenient if he finds Depa along the way, but he knows that's unlikely; he doesn't remember the last time any mission went conveniently. Caleb had said that she was injured, and the look in his eyes when he had said it… shining with worry and disquiet, and worry sparks in his chest. He tamps it down. Hopefully his reaction was just caused by inexperience, this being one of the first times he had ever seen his master injured. But despite his youth, Caleb is still a Padawan, and all initiates are trained to assess the severity of a wound.

But speculation is useless, and wherever (or perhaps however) Depa is right now he can't feel her in the force to get an impression of her current state. 

Mace has a feeling that he'll soon find out, because after minutes of running down identical looking corridors he can hear the thrum and crash of lightsabers up ahead, echoes of indistinct words in Dooku's hollow timbre followed by Skywalker's higher rasp. He doesn't break stride as he draws his saber. He wants to get this over with as soon as possible


End file.
